The Words They Say
by Sara Jaye
Summary: He had two mysteries on his hands. Why did everyone in the Whirl Islands suddenly hate him, and why was Cilan being so cozy with him lately?


Ash is fifteen in this because screw anime logic. :P

* * *

"...and ten Pokeballs, please," Ash watched the clerk put together his purchase, then dug out his wallet. _Uh oh..._ It felt a little light and suddenly he remembered how he, Iris and Cilan had splurged on a hotel. Maybe he still had just enough left to-

"That'll be twenty dollars!"

He checked his wallet. Only fifteen!

"Aww! Sorry, I think I'm few dollars short...maybe I'll put a few things back," he said. Iris snorted and rolled her eyes.

"You're such a kid, Ash! Didn't you count your money before getting us those fancy rooms? _I_ would've liked sleeping outdoors just as much, of course." Ash gave her a dirty look.

"You enjoyed that room service just as much as us!" he retorted. Cilan held up a hand to silence them and whipped out his own wallet. Ash heard a faint gasp behind him, but paid it no mind.

"It's sharing time!" he proclaimed. "Shopkeep, I'll be kicking in the rest of Ash's bill, and throw in a couple of Full Restores, too. I can more than afford it!" Ash's eyes widened. He was used to Brock picking up the slack for him and his other companions, doing big brother things came naturally to him. But Cilan acted more like a simple friend than a brother most of the time.

"Um, Cilan, you don't..."

"Of course I do! Isn't that what good friends are for?" The Gym Leader smiled as he paid the clerk and divided everyone's supplies between them. Another gasp, followed by barely-audible mumbling.

"Well...thank you. I'll find some way to pay you back, I promise!" Ash said. Iris snickered.

"I don't think he's in this for payback, if you know what I mean," she whispered to him. "He's been doing an awful lot of nice stuff for you lately..." Ash opened his mouth to respond, but when he realized she was right he didn't know what to say to that. Cilan _had_ been nicer than usual to him lately...

"Um, we should get going if we want to sign up for the Whirl Cup before sundown," he mumbled.

"Isn't that just like him, always going right for a battle," someone muttered. Ash turned around to see a young woman with long red hair standing against the wall and shaking her head. "That little twerp is so competitive!"

"W-what?"

"And so violent! See the way he just reacted?" the woman's blue-haired companion said in disgust. "Honestly, now I understand why all his other friends left and gave up on him. It's only a matter of time before those two do as well, once they realize how dangerous and stupid he is."

"Excuse me?" Ash gave them a dirty look. "What's the big idea? I was just minding my own business!" The pair regarded him like something they'd just scraped off the bottom of their shoes.

"You _know_ what you did," the woman said coldly. "Everyone on Red Rock Isle knows it, you fucking asshole!"

"After what _your_ psychotic Pokemon did to Professor Oak years ago, you're an unwanted presence here!" the man added. "So why don't you take your worthless electric rodent and get the fuck off, you goddamned shit-weasel!"

"_HEY!_" Iris approached the pair, hands on her hips. "Ash may be a silly kid who doesn't know anything about anything but he's not some kind of psycho! Why don't you big jerks just lay off?"

"Hmph! You'll be singing a different tune when his stupidity and selfishness have gotten you lost or hurt more times than you'll care to count!" the man retorted. "And just iwait/i until he starts abusing his Pokemon, or commanding Pikachu to attack innocent children!"

"Pardon me, but none of that sounds a thing like the Ash Ketchum I've grown accustomed to," Cilan said politely. "Perhaps you've mistaken him for someone else?"

"Are you saying we're fucking crazy?" the woman demanded. "Five years ago, a black-haired menace with an unstable Pikachu and a psychotic Bayleef ran through the Whirl Islands terrorizing innocent people. Ash Ketchum fits that very profile!"

"It wasn't me!" Ash protested. "I'd inever/i use Pikachu or any of my other Pokemon to hurt other people! I was just here to compete in the Whirl Cup with Misty!"

"A likely story," the woman said arily. Ash sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Come on, guys. We might as well just go back to the hotel, there's no use in trying to argue with these people." He picked up Pikachu in his arms and ran down the road, a confused Iris and Cilan following after him.

Unfortunately, it would seem that those two weren't the crazy ones after all. As the trio walked down the road to where the Whirl Cup would be held all sorts of people sneered in Ash's direction, muttering all sorts of accusations and recounting events Ash hadn't even known about until that day.

And the more people said, the angrier Cilan became. But his curiousity about that had been overshadowed by confusion over this reputation he'd somehow earned in the five years between his last visit to the Whirl Islands and now.

"What a jerk!"

"A monster. A complete monster."

"Always persecuting those different from him!"

"A disgrace to the world of Pokemon training...no, to humanity in _general!_"

"That _stench!_ He must not know the meaning of the word_ bath!_"

"What a loser."

"How can anyone willingly associate with that trash?"

_Ignore it._ If he pretended not to hear, it wouldn't bother him. Ash kept his head high, focusing only on his companions and the road ahead of him. _They can't get to me if I don't let them. They can't get to me if-_

"_Hey!_ Why don't you watch where you're _going_, you fucking asshole?"

"Aah!" Ash stumbled backwards just before he crashed into the tall brown-haired woman in front of him. "S-sorry! I was just-"

"Trying to make trouble as usual?" The woman grabbed him and shoved him to the ground. "You may have gotten away with having your Bayleef attack Professor Oak and siccing your little rat on a stadium full of innocents five years ago, but things have changed around here. No longer do the Whirl Islands tolerate your brand of violence, you depraved little shit-heel!"

"But I _wasn't-_" Ash started to protest. "Never mind. Look, I'm sorry for bumping into you, okay? Can my friends and I just be on our way now?"

"Oh, I don't think so." The woman whistled, and the couple from earlier along with three others came to surround Ash. "We're going to teach you a lesson, you fucking twerp."

"You're not going to lay a finger on him!" Cilan shouted, lunging forward only for one of the mob to hold him back. As the others descended on Ash in a flurry of fists and insults, he was vaguely aware of Cilan shouting his name and Iris calling for the nearest Officer Jenny. It seemed like an eternity until Jenny arrived and pulled the mob off him.

"I'm very sorry," she said as she helped Ash to his feet. "It seems no black-haired tourists can come here anymore without those people mistaking them for Ace Mitchum."

"Who?" Iris asked.

"Ace Mitchum. He was a kid who stormed through here with a Pikachu and a Bayleef years ago, attacking people and stealing their money. He even sicced Bayleef on Professor Oak when he refused to pay," Jenny said. "He's been in jail since, but everyone around here is pretty paranoid."

"That certainly does explain a lot," Cilan said. "Ash's name even sounds similar to the original criminal's. However, that does inot/i give people the right to attack him! Can't you simply set them straight on the matter?"

"I can try," Officer Jenny said. "But just in case they don't listen to reason, you three might want to consider somewhere else for a vacation."

"Oh..." Iris sighed. "Guess we won't be able to see the Whirl Cup after all." The look on her face made Ash feel more ashamed than ever. Because of his resemblance to a crook, he was screwing his friends out of a good time.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled.

"You've got nothing to be sorry for," Cilan said. "It's their own fault for being so paranoid and not realizing that a bright young man and that crook are not one and the same!" Ash's cheeks grew hot, and Iris grinned knowingly at him. _He's never stood up for me like **that** before!_

"...thanks," he said quietly. Officer Jenny escorted them back to the hotel, where they began to pack up their things. There was no point in paying for another night.

Ash sat down on his bed, burying his face in his hands. His whole body ached from bruises and scratches where he'd been shoved up against the pavement, but the memory of their cruel words hurt more than their fists had.

_Jerk. Loser. Disgrace._

Thoughts began to burrow their way into his brain, stupid thoughts he knew were ridiculous but couldn't stop. _Don't do this, Ash, start feeling all sorry for yourself just because of a bunch of jerks. Iris and Cilan know you well enough to know you're nothing like that guy, and so did Brock and Misty and all the others._ But they wouldn't leave, every comment he remembered made him doubt himself more. _I'm not that guy! I'm not!_

"Ash?"

"Oh...hey, Cilan." Ash forced a smile as he looked up to see Cilan standing in the doorway.

"We never did take you to a clinc to get those bruises looked at," the Gym Leader said. "Here, let me get out my first aid kid..." His touch was so gentle as he examined and tended to every bruise, bump and scrape and Ash couldn't help blushing a bit at this. "There we go!"

"Thanks." He smiled a little. "I-I should really get back to packing, the sooner we leave the better, right?"

"We've got time," Cilan said. "Did you want to talk?" Ash tensed slightly.

"What's there to talk about? I mean, there's a _lot_ of things to talk about, but if you mean that thing that happened earlier it's no big deal! We're leaving anyway, right?"

"Ash-"

"We'll just forget about it once we get out of here, so what's the point?"

"Maybe _I_ want to talk about it!" Cilan shouted, the vehemence in his tone startling them both. "I-I'm sorry, I've just...never felt this angry before in my life! The way they treated you like a monster for something you didn't even do was unforgivable, you didn't deserve any of it!"

"What if I did?" Tears stung Ash's eyes as the horrible, stupid thoughts finally verbalized themselves. "What if I _am_ as bad as they say? I'm not that smart, I've said and done a lot of boneheaded things in my life, I've been training five years and I'm still not as great as I should be..." He shook his head. "I may not be a criminal like that guy, but let's face it. I'm-"

"Ash." Cilan's hands gripped his shoulders and shook him gently. "You're Ash Ketchum, a bright-eyed, determined, kind-hearted person who tries his best and has been for the last five years. And the Ash Ketchum I've gotten to know wouldn't let a bunch of strangers get to him like this!" Ash smiled a little, even as a few tears slipped down his cheeks.

"I know, I'm being stupid," he said quietly. "It's just...hard, to come back to a place where you were accepted once and suddenly find out everyone hates you for something you didn't even do."

"I know," Cilan said, wrapping an arm around him and drawing him close. The warmth of his body was strangely comforting, Ash realized, feeling his face burn. "But Iris and I, we know you better than they do, and we know the real you. You're a good guy." His hand reached out to caress Ash's damp cheek, and that blush deepend. "And I will _always_ think you're amazing no matter what."

"Cilan..." Suddenly everything started to make sense. Paying for his supplies, sticking his neck out to defend him, that look in his eyes. And the feeling he got just being close to Cilan lately. "I-"

"Me too, Ash. Me too." Cilan smiled. "And you know what? I'm going to help clear your name!" Ash smiled a little.

"You really don't need to do that," he said.

"Of course I do! And Iris will be glad to help me!"

"But-"

"My mind is made up, Ash." Cilan brought one hand up in his signature gesture and grinned. "It's _testimonial time!_" And Ash laughed, truly laughed for the first time since that morning.

"Let's go tell Iris the good news," he said. "Don't worry, even if she teases she really cares."

"I know," Ash said as he slowly got to his feet. "Between the two of you I bet no one ever mistakes me for a crook again!" Maybe. _Maybe_ their testimonial would work, and maybe it wouldn't.

For now, he dared only to hope.


End file.
